I will admit. I didn't make it far in this book. It just wasn't for me. I didn't find the main character very likeable.... she seemed a little snobby and couldn't be bothered to know the name of her best friend's kids? Maybe I will pick it up again some day but I just wasn't feeling it. Others should give it a try - it might be more your style... plus I love the dog on the cover.

Giving 3 stars because I don't want to give a really bad rating when I didn't actually finish it to comment

DNF

After her time in the Big Apple comes to a crashing and burning end, Samantha Barnes finds her way back to Fair Harbor, Massachusetts. She inherits her great aunt's house on the Cape, and this is her chance to start over. Life on the Cape doesn't begin exactly how she'd imagined it would when she discovers the house is a hot mess, her new job has some quirks, she's apparently also inherited a dog, and the harbormaster is a guy from her past.

The ultimate downer though, is the body she finds floating in the water outside of a restaurant she'd been critiquing. A sleuth Samantha is not but she gives it a go when she's certain the drowning was not accidental. As she searches for clues, Samantha unearths a lot more than she expected. she uncovers secrets, blackmail, and lies running rampant through town.

A Side of Murder is a delightful first book in the Cape Cod Foodie series by Amy Pershing. The author did a wonderful job establishing the setting of this cozy mystery. Her world-building was complex but easily envisioned as the reader goes on this journey with Samantha. The descriptions are captivating, and really wanted to vacation in Cape Cod after finishing the book.

There are sparks between Sam and Jason. I'm going to love watching them dance around each other until the author finds the right time to bring them together. All the characters are enjoyable, and I loved Sam's neighbor, Helene. The name of Sam's inherited puppy is cute, too. Diogi (D O G) is precious, and I love it.

The mystery is solid and mildly complex. The author throws in a few potential suspects, some twists and turns, and red herrings. Sam's amateur sleuthing debut is a hit and I enjoyed her every bit of the way through the mystery. The author did a great job writing a cozy mystery that will pull the reader in and keep them engaged throughout the entire book. I look forward to reading the next book.

Enjoyed this mystery set in Cape Cod, Massachusetts which is a setting I normally don't read a lot. I'm going to have to change that.

Title: A Side of Murder

Author: Amy Pershing

Series: Cape Cod Foodie Mystery #1

Publisher: Berkley

Format: paperback, $7.99

Published on: Feb. 23, 2021

Set in: Fair Harbor, Massachusetts

Read an excerpt: here

Buy It! Amazon Barnes & Noble

Life was on the downside for Samantha Barnes after an outdoor fight with her husband was captured on YouTube. Shortly after, she loses her job as a chef and her husband, thankfully, after a divorce.

Then she receives a call from her best friend’s husband, who is a respected lawyer in Fair Harbor, Massachusetts. That puts her on a bus home to the Cape. Apparently, she’s inherited her great aunt Ida’s house, which desperately needs repairs. Still, there’s an opportunity to sell it and return to New York with money in her bank account.

Offering their support are Miles and Jenny. They are her drama club geek friends from high school. They picked her up at the bus station and drove her to her Aunt Ida’s house. She learned that the house was built in 1795 by a first mate on a whaling ship and that sadly it looked beyond repair. But there was hope. She meets her neighbor, Helene Greenburg, the town’s new librarian who offers a lifetime of information, and is introduced to Diogi, a Cape Cod mutt.

No sooner do her friends leave when she get a call from Krista Baker, an old friend and the editor of the Cape Cod Clarion. Krista asks if she can fill in for the lifestyle reporter. She needs someone to write restaurant reviews and food features. Sam agrees as she’s unemployed and bringing in money is a good thing. Her first job is to write about the former inn that she worked at when she was a teen. The new owners named it Bayview Grill. Miles, Jenny and Helene assist her on her first assignment. After paying the bill, Sam goes outside for a little fresh air. What appears to be a mirrored image of the moon is a body floating on the water. As she attempts to get a better view, she recognizes that it’s a former waitress at the old Logan Inn. Unable to handle the water’s temperature, she returns to shore and in a daze informs her friends and the new restaurant owner that she found a body. She’s given a change of clothes and told to stay put because the police and harbormaster will soon arrive and want her statement. Turns out that the harbormaster, Jason Captiva, is the same man she had a crush on years ago. When Jason arrives, he asks her why didn’t she call for help right away and bring the body to shore. After telling him why, he asks her to ID the body. If that wasn’t hard enough, Krista asks her to write a drowning story by using what is already been stated by the harbormaster and to speak with the police chief.

Sam just can’t let go of the mystery, even when Krista ends her assignment. She knows there’s more to the woman’s death then what the authorities are assuming. Her investigation will lead to the truth, but it’s a dangerous path to cross. “A Side of Murder” touches upon preservation and development, adultry, crime, and sailing on the Cape. Pershing does a great job of balancing the importance of her protagonist and secondary characters (who were intelligent, passionate, and truly cared about Sam’s safety). Even a new neighbor was watching out for her before they became friends. There were a lot of possibilities here. Any of them could have been the motive. Pershing chose the strongest one. Watch for the boating scene. You’ll feel like you’re right there. Can’t wait to read the next book in the series!

four boats on the Cape out of five

Denise Fleischer

gottawritenetwork.wordpress.com

Aug. 21, 2021

I received an advanced copy of this book from the publisher through, netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This book is well written and the characters are described well. It is set in New York and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The main character Samantha Barnes is great. It makes you want to visit Cape Cod.  It will suck you in from the first page. It is a entertaining read. I would highly recommend it to anyone and everyone. I never would have guessed it was that character who did it. It is in stores now for $7.99 (USD).

Samantha Barnes was a rising young chef in New York until an infamous Youtube video of her and her ex goes viral, Now out of a job, Sam is surprised to learn she has inherited her Great-Aunt Ida’s house on Cape Cod. While there, the local newspaper editor and former classmate Krista offers Sam a job writing restaurant reviews and she thinks she is in heaven. But when Sam arrives on the Cape, she finds that Ida's house needs a lot of TLC and comes with an enormous puppy named Diogi. Sam’s first assignment at the Bayview Grille starts off well until she ends up finding the body of former waitress Estelle floating in the pond. Though the drowning is called an accident, Sam is certain it's murder and she ends up trying to convince the new harbormaster, who happens to be her first boyfriend Jason, that the case needs to be investigated. It soon becomes clear that Estelle had been blackmailing several people so one of them must be the culprit.

This was a delightful debut mystery with a great locale and cast of characters.

I received a digital ARC from Netgalley and Berkley with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book and provided this review.

I really enjoyed reading this cozy. Sam returns home to Cape Cod after a failed marriage and career. She takes a temporary job writing restaurant reviews for the local newspaper. On her first assignment she discovers a body. When everyone thinks it is an accident she is not so sure. Her High School crush has also returned home and is now Harbor Patrol. Now they are both working together to solve the mystery. I really enjoyed the Cape Cod setting and the food tips. I liked that the supporting cast of characters is diverse in ages and backgrounds. The book does suffer from some first book syndrome as the author tries to describe everything. The mystery was good with some surprises. I look for word to reading the next book in the series. Enjoy

A delicious mystery lovingly set in Cape Cod featuring a cast of charming characters. Amy Pershing writes with a fresh fun voice that will delight cozy fans. The highlights include an exquisite Cape Cod setting, a shamed but resilient chef, murderous secrets, and a long-buried but still steaming romance.

I tried many times, but just could not get into this book. I read it, but could not get lost in it, if that makes sense. The opening scenes dragged for me, perhaps because I am not a foodie.

Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Daniele

A Side of Murder is full to the brim with everything I want in an escape from the real world…a beautiful setting, a charming canine, glorious talk of food, intriguing characters, humor, and murder to solve. It is a strong debut that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

After a very public fight with her hothead significant other is captured on video and goes viral, totally turning chef Samantha’s life and career upside down, she jumps at the opportunity to return home to Cape Cod, MA. Inheriting her aunt’s home could not have come at a better time even if it includes rambunctious puppy Diogi. Though she has plans to spiff it up to sell quickly, she easily falls back into a relationship with her high school friends and takes a temporary job as restaurant critic for the local newspaper. Things get rocky when she finds her former coworker Estelle deceased. The police are calling it an unfortunate accident, but Sam cannot shake the feeling that there is more to her death and decides to investigate on her own.

A Side of Murder is entertaining and a quick, breezy read. As is sometimes the case with the first book in a series, there is a lot of back story and character introductions to get through, and this makes the pace of the book somewhat uneven. At times, the mystery takes a backseat, but it gains momentum in the second half of the tale. It feels natural for protagonist Sam to look into the crime since she knows the victim and the potential suspects. The mystery is well thought out and executed. There are plenty of red herrings, twists and turns, and I enjoyed investigating alongside Sam.

Sam is a thoughtful and intelligent sleuth. I really enjoy her sense of humor. Her friends add variety and are all engaging. I particularly like her next door neighbor Helene, and she provides a welcome source of sage advice for Sam. Sam has not seen harbormaster Jason, her first big crush, since their fateful kiss many years ago, and, as expected, their first encounters are awkward. However, it felt awkward to me how quickly things change between them. I am curious to see how their relationship progresses.

A Side of Murder is great fun. Highly recommended.

A Side of Murder is a cozy mystery full of twists and turns written by Amy Pershing. After inheriting her Aunt Ida's Cape Cod house, Foodie lover and chef Samantha Barnes returns to her home town of Cape Cod, MA after a failed marriage and an embarrassing YouTube video went viral (which caused her to lose her job). Sam, as she likes to be called, only has plans to stay in Cape Cod long enough to sell Aunt Ida's house and figure out her next career move, but finding a former mean co-worker dead face-up in a pond puts a damper in her plans.

While working as food critic for the local newspaper and on the job, Sam finds a dead body in a pond that happens to be a mean former co-worker who, it seemed like, was blackmailing everyone in Cape Cod. Since Sam found the body, she was responsible for writing up the newspaper article on the incident. Though Sam only writes that one article, she is determined to find the killer. The closer Sam gets to the killer, the more her life is in danger and that makes some of the reading riveting, leaving the reader on the edge of their seat.

I liked the suspense part of the book and I think other mystery lovers will like this story as well. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book! (This review is also on GoodReads.)

Samantha returns home to Cape Cod after inheriting a home from her Aunt Ida. Samantha intends for the stay to be temporary after a video of the relationship-ending fight with her ex-husband goes viral. She plans for her short-term stay in Cape Cod to be a balm for her soul and a reprieve from her embarrassment as she plans her next move. She is welcomed home by her childhood friends, a big friendly dog (who is also left by her aunt) and the presence of her teen-age crush. She is also welcomed by the discovery of the body of the old, nosy and nasty server from the restaurant where she worked as a teen. Samantha digs deeper into the death of Estelle, under the guise of free-lance job at the newspaper and finds herself involved in several shady dealings in the Cape.

Fun, beachy, and entertaining cozy mystery complete with easy to follow recipes.

Samantha Barnes’ life has just turned upside down. From being the head chef of a successful restaurant in New York City working alongside her bad-boy chef husband Stefan, she’s suddenly unemployed and divorced, after a volatile, violent argument the two have outside their apartment one evening is recorded by a passerby. The video hits the Internet, causing the pair to go viral and effectively ending both their professional and personal partnerships.

It’s almost a relief to Sam when she gets a phone call soon after this telling her that she’s inherited a house in her Fair Harbor, Massachusetts hometown. Sam’s Great-Aunt Ida was a taciturn woman not given to closeness, but she’d apparently decided to bequeath Sam with her somewhat dilapidated Cape Cod home. Sam figures that getting out of the city will help her notoriety die down while she figures out how to dispose of her new property. Besides which, she’s looking forward to spending time with her two best friends from high school, stay-at-home mom Jenny Snow Singleton and organic farmer Miles Tanner.

When Krista Baker, the pushy editor of the local paper, insists that Sam help her out while in town by writing restaurant reviews for the Cape Cod Clarion, Sam finds it hard to say no. After all, she’ll be getting paid for eating and writing about free food, and Sam is no dummy. Recruiting her best friends as well as her new neighbor, librarian Helene Greenberg, to accompany her, their first trip takes Sam to a place that brings back unfortunate memories of her first love, Jason Captiva. Unable to help herself, she goes to take a solitary stroll to the place where she and Jason shared a disastrous first kiss, only to find a corpse bobbing in the water nearby.

While the local sheriff figures it’s an open and shut case of a drunken Estelle Kobolt falling into the water and accidentally drowning, Sam isn’t so sure. She shares her concerns with both Krista and with law enforcement, but everyone tells her to drop it. Determined to get to the bottom of things, she decides to keep investigating as part of her new role as lifestyle-reporter-at-large for the Clarion, but soon finds that she may have bitten off far more than she can chew.

A Side Of Murder is a wonderfully twisty, layered mystery, told in the charming voice of an impulsive chef-turned-reporter, peppered throughout with wry humor and the occasional cooking tip. There’s a lot of attention paid to sailing, particularly in a Sunfish, which had me thinking fondly of my own childhood reading Arthur Ransome’s Swallows And Amazons and puttering around in my best friend’s Optimist. It’s a terrific culinary cozy series debut, including as well four recipes at the back that go wonderfully together as a casual dinner for friends. Since we made a decadent lobster mashed potatoes last week for this column, I thought I’d try the dessert this time around:

QUOTE
Sam’s Thin and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes about 4 dozen cookies)

10 ounces high-fat French or Irish butter, softened to room temperature
1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar
¾ cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon table salt like Morton’s)
2 large eggs
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour (plus another 2 tablespoons of flour set aside to coat the chocolate chips)
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt in a bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and mix on medium speed until blended, about 2 minutes.

Whisk the flour and baking soda together in separate bowl, then mix into the dough at medium speed for 2 minutes.

In another bowl, combine the chocolate chips with the set aside 2 tablespoons of flour. Use a spatula to stir the flour-coated chips into the dough by hand.

Drop the dough by slightly rounded tablespoons onto cookie pans, preferably lined with parchment paper. To allow for spreading, 12 cookies per sheet works well.

Bake until golden brown, 8-10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
END QUOTE

One of these days, I’ll be able to portion out my cookies so they make the right amount in the right sizes. My own shortcomings regardless, these turned out deliciously, reminding me very much of the cookie cakes my co-workers and I used to buy each other for birthdays at the one restaurant I worked at. These cookies were soft and delicious, and the edges that didn’t run into each other (which was again entirely my fault and not the recipe author’s!) were delightfully crispy. Amy Pershing also notes in her book that you should wait for your high-quality butter to soften to the point where you can easily poke a finger through it, to ensure that the cookies come out perfectly thin and chewy.

Next week, we head to the Midwest to investigate a stunning murder while slowcooking a delicious meal. Do join me!

Because, my dear, no problem goes away until you have learned all it means to
teach you… You are exactly where you should be, when you should be.
Kindle Loc. 1107—1115

What do you turn to when you can’t turn to a grilled cheese sandwich?
Kindle Loc. 1726
Amy Pershing, A Side of Murder

Beautiful Cape Cod, Massachusetts, is known for seafood, sand, surf, and, now…murder.

Samantha Barnes was always a foodie. And when the CIA (that’s the Culinary Institute of America) came calling, she happily traded in Cape Cod for the Big Apple. But then the rising young chef’s clash with another chef (her ex!) boils over and goes viral. So, when Sam inherits a house on the Cape and lands a job writing restaurant reviews, it seems like the perfect pairing. What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, a lot.

The dilapidated house comes with an enormous puppy. Her new boss is, well, bossy. And the town’s harbor master is none other than her first love. Nonetheless, Sam’s looking forward to reviewing the Bayview Grill—and indeed the seafood chowder is divine. But the body in the pond outside the eatery was not on the menu. Sam is certain this is murder. But as she begins to stir the pot, is she creating a recipe for her own untimely demise?
Amazon.com

As most of you know, I’m a beach person, which is one of the reasons I downloaded this book. One look at the cover, and my decision was made. A Side of Murder is the first book in Amy Pershing’s Cape Code Foodie Mystery series—another plus for me since I’ve never like reading books from the middle of a series.

Amy Pershing is a natural storyteller. The book flows effortlessly from beginning to end. It is a character-driven plot, and few readers could dislike main character Sam Barnes. She’s not just a foodie, she’s a trained chef, derailed from her Manhattan career, and is floundering when she returns to her hometown on Cape Cod. I loved the cooking/baking tips woven into the story. Luckily for Sam, old and new friends are there to help, along with her newly inherited big puppy, Diogi (D-O-G).

Please welcome Amy Pershing to WWK. E. B. Davis

Is Fair Harbor a real town on Cape Cod? Have you lived there?

Fair Harbor is fictional, but I did piece it together from four Cape towns that I know very well from summers spent almost every year of my life on the Cape – Orleans, Chatham, Brewster and Wellfleet. I did the math once and figured I have spent approximately 1,000 days of my life sailing the waters around those towns.

The topography fascinated me. Describe Little and Big Crystal bays to our readers, please.

Crystal Bay is based on Orleans’ Pleasant Bay. In contrast to the larger and more protected Cape Cod Bay, which lies in the curve of the “arm” of the Cape, Crystal Bay is on the ocean side of the peninsula, created by a long spit of sand dunes known to locals as the Outer Beach. It consists of the more sheltered Little Crystal and, as you sail further out, the larger, wilder Big Crystal.

Sam probably describes the bay best, saying: “Crystal Bay is the most gloriously beautiful body of water in the world. On a crisp May morning, dazzled by the sunlight sparkling on its deep blue waters, entranced by the new green mantling its small, uninhabited islands, taking great breaths of the fresh salt breeze, one could be forgiven for thinking that this was what the dawn of the world had looked like.

What are Wellfleet oysters and where are they from?

Wellfleet oysters come from the Cape Cod town of Wellfleet. Oyster lovers know that all oysters are not created equal. Much depends on where the oysters are grown. Wellfleet oysters have a justified (in my purely objective – not – opinion) for being some of the best on the East Coast. They are plump and clean with a distinctive balance of creamy sweetness (created by Wellfleet’s clean, cold waters) and brine (from the water’s fairly high salinity). Also, oysters feed on a mix of nutrients and local phytoplankton, and the unique mix of both in Wellfleet’s waters give its oysters an added dimension of deliciousness!

Was architect Luther Crowell real? I found a Cape Cod inventor, who died in 1903. Is this his son or grandson? What types of houses did he design?

Luther Crowell (1912-1989) was a very real Cape Cod house designer/builder descended from a long line of early Cape Cod ship builders and captains (and, I suspect, the inventor Luther Crowell, who lived in West Dennis and died in 1903). Though not trained as an architect, Crowell designed and built more than 100 “modernist” houses in Wellfleet, including the iconic Kohlberg House on which the house belonging to Samantha’s neighbor, Helene, is based. https://ccmht.org/programs/restoration-projects/kohlberg-house/


Jenny, one of Sam’s oldest friends, is an interesting character. She never went anywhere or went to college, married an older lawyer, and has three children who all have names starting with the letter “E,” whom Sam names Thing One, Two, and Three. I like Jenny, but I’m not sure why. What is it about Jenny readers like?

I don’t know about readers, but I’ll tell you what I like about her. I like that despite the challenges of her dyslexia (which might explain the not going to college thing), she’s found other outlets for her smarts and creativity, including raising three terrific kids and being a talented videographer. But most of all, I like her emotional intelligence. Jenny is the friend who sees the depths below the surface – including why Sam has really come back to the Cape…

Sam is six-feet one and a half inches tall. Although it’s made her socially awkward, she’s also used it to her advantage. How did being a tall chef help Sam?

I’ll let Sam tell it in her own words: “I was proud of being a successful woman chef in a de-cidedly male field. I was tough, and I didn’t let the male chefs intimidate me. For the first time in my life, my height was working for me. Those macho men literally could not look down on me.”

After a viral video disaster, Sam realizes that all is not as it seems. I was surprised she hadn’t known that before since her parents were journalists, who ran the local paper until her father had a heart attack. They quit to retire to Florida. With a mother who specialized in investigative journalism, you’d think a suspicious nature would have come naturally to Sam. Why didn’t it?

I think Sam inherited her mother’s curious nature, but you’re right, not her mother’s suspicious one. As she fully admits: “Until recent events taught me better, I tended to take what people said and did at face value. What you saw, I thought, is what they were. This misconception has not always worked out well for me. In fact, that spring, the spring I came metaphorically limping home to the Cape, you could say it worked out very badly indeed. …In retrospect, I got every player in this little drama wrong. And one of them disastrously, murderously wrong.”

As to why Sam is the way she is? I’ve no idea. She just came to me that way!

Aunt Ida left her house to Sam. But who is she? Sam is an only child of only children without cousins. Why did Aunt Ida get a puppy for Sam before she died?

Aunt Ida was Sam’s father’s unmarried aunt, and thus Sam’s great aunt. Ida was a Cape Codder of the old school and never approved of her grand-niece’s move off-Cape (and to the big city no less!). So when she leaves Sam her house and a ginormous puppy, Sam thinks she’s figured out what she calls “Aunt Ida’s evil plan”: “Sorry, Aunt Ida, but if you think you can trap me into coming back by giving me a falling- down house and a not very bright dog, you have another think coming.” But, of course, it’s Sam who has another think coming!

Next-door neighbor Helene is also a memorable character. She’s older but provides advice to Sam as a parent could not. Why is it that kids can accept advice from an older friend but protest such advice from a parent? Or does Helene’s background give her a distinct advantage?

You’ve touched on something that I’ve noticed (and experienced) myself. Even in the best relationship between parent and adult child, there are issues -- if only the son or daughter’s entirely understandable wish to be independent and the mother or father’s entirely understandable wish to be needed – that create barriers to communication. But an older friend can provide the experience and honesty that a younger adult sometimes needs (without even knowing they need it). Yes, Helene does have certain, shall we say, qualifications for this role, but in my experience, all that’s really needed is affection, honesty and a sense of humor.

When Sam finds the body of a woman she disliked years ago when they worked together, it brings the past back forefront in her mind, stirring thoughts of her first crush/love, Jason Captiva. Why did Sam dislike murder victim, Estelle?

I’ll let Sam answer that one: “Estelle was a piece of work. She was in her early fifties and had a passion for flat red lipstick and hair in a clashing orange shade never seen in nature. She was a little over¬weight but still what my grandfather would have called a fine figure of a woman. She was the kind of waitress who called her regulars “hon” and knew their drink orders by heart. She had ruled the Logan Inn cocktail lounge for years, and she made it her mission to keep Krista and me in our place. It seemed she found me, whom she insisted on calling Miss Daddy’s Girl, particularly objectionable.”

And it only gets worse!

What are truffle fries?

Truffle fries, which Sam calls “an easy A,” are generally thin-cut deep-fried potatoes topped with truffle oil and sometimes fresh herbs and spices, garlic, cheese, or other toppings. Ideally, the truffle oil is made from olive oil infused with real truffles, those rare and coveted fungi that grow wild in the forests of Italy. In reality, a lot of truffle oil is made with truffle “essence,” a manufactured aromatic compound. In my experience, real truffle oil, because of its expense and true truffle flavor, is best saved for drizzling over special pastas or salads. But “essence” truffle oils are great for truffle fries.

Jason Captiva is now the Harbormaster. What is a Harbormaster? Does every coastal town have one?

In most coastal communities a harbormaster -- who in larger towns heads the Harbor Patrol -- regulates marine uses within the town’s borders. Harbor Patrol services include rescue, law enforcement, firefighting, lifesaving, medical response, and public assistance. But because a harbormaster is also an officer of the law, he or she can detain and arrest suspects and lead an investigation, though only within the tidal range of the waters they are responsible for. As Fair Harbor’s harbormaster, Jason’s brief is the waters that give the town its name.

As Sam would tell you, when she was a kid sailing on Crystal bay, she and her friends saw the harbormaster as a kind of “Old Testament god,” mostly because of his power to call you out for not wearing the required life vest. “I don’t know what we thought the harbormaster would do to life vest scofflaws. Keelhaul us?”

Sam catches herself in Freudian slips that give her shocks. She having to acknowledge some truths about herself. Is the truth in her life changing? Is she changing? Or is she reverting to her true self?

You’re absolutely about those slips giving her away. But it’s complicated. Yes, Sam’s life is changing, though, at least at first, she resists that change. She does not want to return to the Cape. She does not want to be the Cape Cod Foodie. She does not want a falling-down house or a ginormous puppy. But then she begins to change. She can’t resist the beauty that is Cape Cod. She can’t resist the house or the puppy. She can’t resist her friends (and she certainly can’t resist Jason.) She even finds that she sometimes enjoys being the Cape Cod Foodie.

But is she reverting to her true self? I wouldn’t say reverting, as that would imply that her time away from the Cape was not meaningful. But, yes, I think she is finding her true self. As Helene points out to her, “You honed your craft and built a career. You learned about life and you learned about love. You are a better, wiser, more compassionate person for the challenges you’ve faced. You are exactly where you should be, when you should be.”

Krista, the new manager of the local newspaper taking over from Sam’s father, can be a demanding and has a questionable love life. Why does Sam consider her to be a friend?

It’s true, Krista can be a bit brusque and of-putting. And yes, her love life makes Sam very “flustery.” But she is, after all, Sam’s boss, so she has a right to be, well, bossy. And she did offer Sam a job when there was absolutely nothing for her on the horizon. And it was Krista who went to bat to keep Sam’s father’s dream of a local paper alive when she could have had her pick of journalism jobs. Plus, as it turns out, Krista has enormous integrity, even to the extent of being willing to sacrifice her own career for the truth. Now if only she would give Sam a raise…

Who is Anna Wintour?

Anna Wintour is the long-time editor Vogue, whose signature bobbed hair-style has literally not changed in decades.


Photo courtesy of Amy Pershing

Why does Sam decide to investigate, even though Krista warns her off, when the local police think Estelle’s death is an accident?

Good question! First of all, she keeps going because Sam is smart and she has pride and it gets her hackles up when people – Krista, Police Chief McCauley, even Jason – don’t seem to be taking her well-founded concerns about Estelle’s death seriously. But also, I think, that Sam feels that murder – no matter how unpleasant the victim -- is quite simply wrong.

Plus, Sam is nosy!

What is gunk-holing?

I’m not even sure gunk-holing is a real word, but it’s what my friends and I used to call exploring the little gunky tidal ponds (i.e. gunk holes) in the marshes around Pleasant Bay.

What did it cost Jason to be a Harbormaster?

It cost him his relationship with his fisherman father, who is no longer in Jason’s life after moving to Maine, “where there are still fish to be caught.” When Sam says she’s sorry to hear that, Jason responds stoically, “Not a problem. This way I can’t be a disappointment to him. Unlike my father, I happen to believe the overfishing theory … and all the other ways we’re not being the stewards of the land and the water that we ought to be.” But Sam knows it is a problem, and it hurts her to see Jason hurting.

Are there farms on Cape Cod? Does the soil have enough nutrients?

Despite a century-long downward trend for farms on the Cape, there has been a renaissance for today’s farmers, who are responding very successfully to a healthy demand for local food, especially that grown organically.

The Cape actually has the advantage of a longer growing season than that of many other New England regions because the surrounding ocean warms things up earlier in the summer and makes its winters generally mild enough to grow cold-weather crops under plastic quanset huts. Though it’s true that the Cape’s land is very sandy, the soil of old, established farms is quite good for growing vegetables, with 10-12 inches of loamy top soil created by decades of decomposing plant material.

What’s next for Sam and her Fair Harbor gang?

As for Sam, I’m afraid she’s going to be falling over more bodies. There’s that not-so-jolly Santa in the holiday season’s An Eggnog to Die For. And a famous chef/cookbook author the following summer in Murder is No Picnic. And, of course, there’s an embarrassing YouTube video or two (though the Cape Cod Foodie videos, I’m happy to say for both Sam and Jenny, will become increasingly popular).

The rest of the gang will be doing their bit, of course – Helene offering her usual no-nonsense response to Sam’s nonsense, Miles making Sam laugh and trying keep Aunt Ida’s house from falling down, Jillian making up for Sam’s lack of baking prowess, and Jason still causing Sam to go weak at the knees.

Diogi, of course, understands that the series is all about him and will be taking his usual starring role.

A SIDE OF MURDER by Amy Pershing
The First Cape Cod Foodie Mystery

After inheriting her aunt's house, Chef Samantha Barnes returns to Cape Cod. The timing is perfect as it allows Sam to hide from the notoriety of the viral video of her fight with another chef, the man who is now her ex-husband. Though she considers her stint on the Cape short term, flipping the house and moving on, Sam soon finds herself owning a dog and writing foodie pieces for the local paper. But Sam soon finds herself enmeshed in life on the Cape after she finds a dead body. Though the police deem it an accidental death, Sam is troubled by inconsistencies and decides she may want to report on more than food. Now Sam is coming to grips with her past and learning to live in the present as she searches for answers. Will she find a murderer, or will a murderer find her?

A SIDE OF MURDER is a story about finding your purpose in life. It's about discovering where you belong as well as celebrating food and friendship. It's also a story about lessons. Even when bad things happen, you can learn from it and find a better path; perhaps the path you were meant to be on.

The first Cape Cod Mystery is more of a traditional mystery than a cozy. Though there is nothing graphic, there are some unpleasant details and violence against animals. (Don't worry, cozy rules for the dog are applied.) I really liked the characters. Despite her faults Sam is a likeable protagonist. She's strong, albeit perhaps a bit headstrong, and tends to use juvenile sounding slang, making me question her age...or perhaps mine. I adore Diogi and Helene is my favorite human in the bunch, with her avant garde look and down to earth wisdom. The descriptive talk about food made my mouth water-and I don't even like seafood! I am still drooling over the lamb and wish I could have joined Sunday dinner.

Using first person point of view, Sam often gives asides to the reader, either sharing cooking tips or commenting about things to come with foreknowledge. While I appreciate the cooking tips, adding them to the narrative slows the momentum of the story. Sam doesn't need to give readers hints that something bad is going to happen either. The mystery itself was complex with lots of twists and turns along with more than one surprise!

The author's love for food, cooking, and sailing shines through giving the mystery plenty of Cape Cod flavor and a definite sense of place. A SIDE OF MURDER is a delicious start to a new series and I look forward to Sam's continuing adventures.

I have a weakness for culinary-focused cozy mysteries. So when I saw A Side of Murder, I knew I wanted to give it a try.

The book follows Samantha who returns to Cape Cod after a very public breakup and then she finds out she has inherited a house. She figures she’ll return to her old hometown to decompress, visit with friends and see about selling the house. But then she stumbles upon a dead body and she can’t just let the police do their job.

Samantha is an interesting character. She’s a chef turned reluctant reporter/restaurant critic. It’s mentioned many times that she’s 6 feet tall, so it’s a sore point for her. She loves being out on the water and food is her love language. She enjoys talking food, eating food and making food for her friends. And much of the book focuses on these facts. Samantha gives tips while she’s cooking with ways to make meals better. A side note here, in one scene she was having breakfast with someone who was eating a healthy meal and she pretty much looked down on them. As someone who has to eat a low-carb, healthy diet, it was a bit off-putting. But it was one meal/scene, so I got over it. Some recipes were provided at the end of the book, a couple which were made or mentioned in the story.

The supporting characters were quite varied ranging from the older librarian neighbor, high school buddy turned organic farmer (who is also gay), her BFF who is a stay-at-home mother, her workaholic friend, and boss, and then there’s her teenage crush turned harbormaster. The group of them band together behind Samantha to solve the mystery and provide moral support.

The mystery itself, well, Ms. Pershing managed to throw some curveballs in that I wasn’t expecting. It was a little slow going and Samantha did bumble around a bit, but that’s expected in a cozy, especially in the first of the series. I’ll admit that I think the resolution came a little out of left field, but it also made sense.

All in all, it was a good beginning to a new series. There was nice character and world-building and a solid mystery. Do I think it could have used some tweaking? Yes. In particular, I really hated the side notes early in the story, which eventually dropped off. However, I’m interested enough to read more of this series in the future. Well done Ms. Pershing!

A Side of Murder: A Cape Cod Foodie Mystery
By Amy Pershing
Berkley
March 2021

Review by Cynthia Chow

Samantha Barnes left Cape Cod ten years ago for the Culinary Institute of America to pursue her dreams of becoming a head chef in New York City. Marrying a Bad Boy celebrity chef who would habitually cheat on her and have their very public confrontation go viral on YouTube was not in her plans, nor was her retreat back home to nurse her emotional wounds. Sam only planned to stay in Cape Harbor’s town of Fair Harbor until she could settle the inheritance of a ramshackle home left to her by her beloved Aunt Ida, but Sam quickly finds herself wrangled in by an old friend to do restaurant reviews on the side. Sam’s own father was the editor-in-chief of the Cape Cod Clarion before her parents left to retire in Florida, and with that attachment already in place Sam has little choice but to also corral in her old besties Jenny Snow Singleton and Miles Tanner in as mostly-helpful tasters. Sam’s plans for a short stay in town ends when she finds the floating body of the town drunk who tormented her as a teenager, a woman who also led to Sam’s experiencing her first heartbreak with Jason Captiva. History could be repeating itself when Sam discovers that Jason is back in town as well, although the former motorcycle-riding-bad-influence is now the much-admired harbormaster for the Barnstable Country Harbor Patrol.

While the authorities are more than willing to write off Estelle Kobolt’s death as accidental, Sam becomes obsessed with discovering the truth. Coded notebooks from when Sam’s mother was a reporter provide lead to an inordinate number of town scandals, with her own teen trauma included among them. As Sam returns to places she spent in her youth she realizes that Fair Harbor’s tastes have progressed considerably, with many restaurants rivaling those in the City. As Sam’s eyes are opened up to the opportunities lying in wait for her in her hometown, she continues to fulfill her dreams as a chef by cooking for her friends and sharing the gifts she loves to create.

I fell in love with this novel that is as much as an exploration a woman’s journey to find her home as it is the debut of a mystery series. The same spirit that had her proving the sharpness of her chef knives on her ex has her dedicated to finding the truth about Estelle’s death, a woman no one particularly liked or misses. It’s a mission that gives Sam a purpose for staying in town, for as much as she declares her intent to leave all signs indicate that she is exactly where she is supposed to be. A hugely rambunctious puppy willed upon her by her late aunt, a growing media presence unrelated to her heroic YouTube battle, and an assortment of suitors all fall in place as lures to keep her in anchored in Fair Harbor. Sam may have inherited her snarky humor from her father, but it’s her mother’s nose for investigation that has Sam shuffling through an assortment of clues. Tips for home cooks are sprinkled throughout, and in addition to helpful suggestions to use cast-iron pans for fried chicken are recipes that include her Aunt Ida’s Cape Cod Clam Chowder. From the first page readers will be drawn into the nuances of Sam’s restaurant reviewing, her cooking, and her hilarious interactions with neighbors and friends. A next-door librarian who proves to be far more than she seems is the icing on the cake for this new mystery that excels with its delicious machinations, clever dialogue, and completely unpredictable conclusion.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

Amy Pershing gets the credit for my first book hangover of 2021.
I started reading and just couldn’t stop.

Samantha Barnes was a rising star in the New York food scene but one little pesky argument, okay, one big argument that was caught on video and uploaded on YouTube with her ex, also a notable chef has left her without a job.

Then her Aunt Ida passes away and leaves her a home on the Cape. The home also comes with a very large puppy dog named Dioge (D-O-G). A friend has taken over the editor position at the local paper, once held by Sam’s father. She gives Sam a job reviewing local restaurants. Sam also gets back in contact with some old friends. She almost doesn’t have time to miss her life in New York, but she does. She steps outside of a restaurant she is reviewing, one where she used to work, to contemplate her life when she notices a body floating in the water. An accidental drowning? Sam sure doesn’t think so. She may land herself in hot water but it can’t hurt to ask a few questions, can it?

I loved everything about this story starting with protagonist Samantha Barnes. She shows immediately she is not a woman to be messed with. She is tall, (very tall), smart, brave, and caring and she is not only fun but funny with a fantastic sense of humor. The author surrounds her with a stellar supporting cast including her first love, Jason, who now happens to be the harbormaster, her aunt’s friend and neighbor who quickly becomes a true friend of Sam’s, her friends she has known forever, and one huge, lovable dog. Her parents have retired to Florida but they are just a phone call away. These characters have so much depth for the first book in the series. I felt like I personally knew every one of them. All are very realistic, their dialogues ring true, including Sam’s inner dialogues which I really enjoyed.

I also fell in love with Aunt Ida’s home with a spectacular view. I loved that when the house got too big for Ida to handle she added an ell to the main home. A little mother’s cottage or aunt’s cottage in Ida’s case. Space for everything she needed and perfect for one person and their dog. Perfect for Sam now too because she can use space in the main house for when she wants to entertain like for her traditional Sunday meal with friends. I wish I had a place like Aunt Ida’s, it would be perfect for me too.

The mystery was so well-plotted and written. Filled with an abundance of twists and turns there was always something happening. The author really shows her writing chops. For example, I have never been in a sailboat but her dramatic detailed account of Sam’s heart-pounding adventure transported me out of my chair and onto that lake, moving my feet, stretching my body, and tilting side to side as I participated from my easy chair. The entire book was like that. I really felt like I was there for each and every scene.

The food prepared, eaten, and delightfully described tempted my taste buds the entire story. The author’s tips included added a nice touch.

Amy Pershing has written a spectacular cozy mystery. I was totally captivated and entertained from the first page to the last. So much so I want to shout about it from the rooftops! Daily life, suspense, comedy, and a touch of romance come together to make A Side of Murder a must-read for all cozy lovers!!

I love series starters, you get to be there from the beginning and you also get a little of the history for context. In addition to history, Sam has some notoriety in case you aren't up on your YouTube chef knife fights. Going back home to have a fresh start and an old house is just what this chef needed, some good friends old and new and a slobbery ginormous puppy too! You instantly take a liking to even if she was too tall for a girl. Personally, I wouldn't mind some more height myself. This story had quite the plot patterns, definitely resembled a nest of sweet Vidalia onion rings, interlocking but still separate. Oh and the things you learn about Sam's friends, organic veggies, secret trysts, a "quiet" librarian, and the Harbor Master (swoon)! This mystery kept me guessing, except for the romance, I knew that was going just the way it needed to. I do like a happy ending and cannot wait to read the next one!

Samantha Barnes, Sam to her friends, grew up in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but left to go to culinary school and become a famous chef. Thanks to an inheritance and a new job writing about food in the area for a local paper, she is back. Her first assignment is to review a new restaurant in town, but the good food is quickly forgotten when she finds a dead body floating in the water next to the restaurant. The police think it was an accident. After all, the victim was a known drunk, so she could have easily fallen in and drown. Sam thinks something more sinister is happening. Can she prove it?

There is a good mystery here, and I enjoyed seeing how Sam figured everything out. Unfortunately, there is just as much set up, introducing us to the people in Sam’s life and filling us in on her past. The result was a pace that was uneven. I did still enjoy it since I liked Sam and the supporting characters. We saw hints of the depths to the characters that I’m sure we’ll see more of in future books in the series. I was bothered by a cliché that several of the characters fell into, however, especially since it doesn’t fit one of the characters at all. The book ends with recipes for a suggested four-course casual dinner with friends. Overall, I enjoyed this virtual vacation debut.